Toy clay modeler



Se t. 3, 1940. M. s. LANDOW TOY CLA Y MODELER Filed Feb. 24, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Sept. 3, 1 M. s. LANDOW TOY CLAY MODELER 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb. 24, 1939 Myer 15'. Lynda w,

@ MM Fh Patented Sept. 3, 1940 rarest orrica TOY CLAY IWODELER Myer S. Landow, York, Pa, assignor to The Pfaltzgraft Pottery 60., York, Pa", a corporation of Pennsylvania Application February 24, 1939, Serial No. 258,302

3 Claims.

The invention relates to a toy for modeling clay, and the like, and it consists in the features and combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter described and particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings Figure 1 is a front view of the apparatus.

Fig. 2 is a side view.

Fig. 3 is a plan view.

Fig. 4 is a vertical sectional view of one form of mold.

Figs. 4a and lb are views of other forms of molds.

Fig. 5 is a view of a shoe or forming tool for shaping the article in'cooperation with a mold.

Figs. 5a and 5b are views of diiferent forms of shoes or forming tools.

Fig. 6 is a sectional view of the chuck or cupshaped holder for the molds and its immediate associated parts constituting a removable unit.

Fig. 7 is a sectional view of a molding table adapted to be interchanged with a ring adapted to be removably mounted on the chuck.

Fig. 8 is a fragmental sectional view of the mold and associated mechanism, as positioned during a molding operation.

In the drawings, I indicates the base on which is fixed a plate 2 from which rises a standard 3 at one end thereof, and also a post A, the latter being positioned towards the front of the apparatus. The base plate 2 is secured to the main base mem ber I by screws 5. The post Q may be held to the base plate 2 by its screw threaded lower end and a nut 6. This post furnishes a support for the journal I of a gear wheel 8, which is operated by a crank member or handle 9 attached to an arm I0, cast integrally with the gear wheel 8. The post 4 has a socket at its upper end receiving a shaft I I which simply rests in the socket by gravity.

The shaft carries a pinion i2 affixed thereto, and above the pinion the shaft is enlarged, as at I3, and above this enlargement, and formed integrally therewith, is a cup-shaped member or chuck It. This chuck, together with the Ver- 45 tical stub shaft I I, it, is preferably formed in one piece. This chuck or cup-shaped member is intended to receive the molds in which the clay is placed for treatment in forming articles of different shapes. A ring member I5 rests upon the upper edge of the cup-shapedmember or chuck, said ring member having an outer flange It depending therefrom to fit down alongside of the cylindrical cup-shaped member, and also an inner flange, which is indicated at IT, and is of beveled or downwardly tapering shape in cross section.

. This cup-shaped member is adapted to receive any one of a plurality of molds, three of which are shown in the drawings and indicated at a,b,and 0. These molds or mixingbowls are made of any suitable material, such, for instance, as of plaster Paris. They have each a shoulder at d, and the interior of these molds presents a wall portion carrying the design or configuration which is to be imparted to the molded article.

As above stated, three of these molds are indicated, and each is of different design on its interior wall. These molds are stored on the same base plate i which carries the rotary chuck and its operating mechanism, and for this purpose of storage the base I is provided with a member iii in the form of a board or plate which is elevated above the surface of the main base I by means of strips l9 attached to said base in any suitable way.

The members it and I 9 may be formed of wood. The top member l 8 is provided with openings 2i? of aboutthe same diameter as the lower cylindrical portions of the molds, and are adapted to receive the same so that the shoulders 11 of the molds may rest on the upper surface of the storage board iii.

In order to preserve space, the three openings in the storage board are disaligned, the middle opening being located to one side of the line passing through the center of the other two openings. This storage board is located to the left of the chuck and its operating mechanism in order to be out of the way of the operator in manipulating the crank or handle for rotating the chuck.

The shoe, of which there may be any suitable number, but corresponding in number to the number of molds or forms, is mounted on an arm 22. One of these shoes is shown in place at 23. It is afiixed to the arm by a wing nut engaging a screw threaded pin 24. The shoe has a shank portion fitted into a recess 25 where it is held against turning by the walls defining said recess and by the wing nut shown at 26. The screw threaded pin is located in said recess, being fixed to the bottom thereof. The arm 22 is pivotally mounted in a recess or slot at the upper end of the standard 3, the mounting being a pivotal one at 2?. This arm 22 protrudes towards the rear of the standard slightly, and is engaged by a link 28 pivotally connected thereto at one end, and at the other end connected to a helical retracting spring 29, the lower end of which is attached in any suitable way to the rear face of the standard 3.

The forward end of the pivoted arm or shoe carrier 22 is formed into a handle portion 3!]. When one of the molds is set in the chuck with its shoulder d resting on the upper surface of the ring l5, and is filled with clay, the shoe is brought down by the child exerting pressure through the handle portion 'upon the shoe carrier or lever 22, and the child, while holding the shoe carrier down with one hand, turns the chuck with the other hand by grasping the crank or handle 9, and thus operating the gear wheels 8, pinion l2, vertical shaft member H, l3, and chuck l4.

The shoe is formed to cooperate with the interior configuration of the mold, and therefore there is provided a separate shoe for each one of the molds forming the set with which the apparatus is furnished.

By the actions just described, the shoe in cooperation with the mold, while the latter is in rotation, will form a hollow cup-shaped product,

the outer side of which will conform to the design configuration of the inner wall of the mold, and by reason of the fact that the shoe is provided with a shoulder portion 2311, the article being formed will be smoothed off at its upper edge, and this will determine the depth of the formed article, it being noted that this upper edge of said article will be substantially in the same horizontal plane with the upper face of the mold.

As above stated, the molds will have variously shaped interiors in order to form articles prov1ded with diiTe-rently designed exterior walls. The upper portion of the formed article may also varyaccording to the design of the interior of the mold, and may be more or less plain, or beaded,

or shouldered, or simply outwardly flared.

Each mold has a shoe individual thereto.

' These shoes may be readily changed by simply retracting the wing nut, taking off the one shoe, and substituting another, and for this purpose each shoe has an opening indicated at 23b, so that it may be placed on the screw member 2 3 and within the recess 25 of the shoe carrying arm 22.

In order to store these shoes, thestorage board board for the molds, and the location of the molds in these openings can be 'determined according to their numbering in relation to the numbers adjacent the slots receiving the corresponding shoes.

It will be observed from Fig. 1 representing a front view and Fig. 3 representing a plan view that the pivoted arm 22 moves in a vertical plane inclining leftward from rear to the front of the base I and in this inclining vertical plane the axis of the chuck M lies. The gear wheel 8 is arranged in a vertical plane parallel with the inclined vertical plane just mentioned in which the carrier arm 22 and the vertical axis of the chuck lie. This inclination of vertical plane of the gear wheel leftward from front to rear of thebase I will result in the axis of the handle 9-inclining towards the front edge of the base I and this will enable the child positioned at the front of the appliance to grasp and operate the being caught between this handle and the bottom of the chuck, the said handle is provided with an. enlargement 9a which moves so close to the bottom of the chuck during its rotation that there is not room enough for the finger of the child to be caught between the handle and the chuck bottom, and thus accident in this regard will be prevented.

In order to provide a modeling table to be used interchangeably with the molds above described, the ring, which, as is indicated above, is

removably mounted on the cup-shaped member or chuck, is removed from the apparatus,- and a table 32 is substituted therefor. Thistable is, of larger diameter than the chuck and the ring,.

surface, it results that the table is held .with

sufiicient frictional engagementwiththe chuck to enable a child to model with his fingersa body of clay or. other material placed on the table, and the connection betweenthis table and chuck is also sufiicient tocause the table torotate when the chuck is rotated, so that the mod-. n

eling operation can be performd by the fingers of the child. H

The table may be formed of any suitable metal which will havesufficient weight and strong enough frictional. contact with the chuckto derive its rotation therefrom without any special connection between these parts The removable ring may be. heldagainst relative rotation in respect to the chuckin order to secure unison operation.of. theseutwo,parts by any suitablev lug andnotch construction, the.

notch being formed, for instance, in the upper edge of the rotary cup or chuck, and the projection on the ring fitting in said notch. The lug is shown at 33 andthe notch-at 34.

. It will be observed ,thatthe toy is made .up of two main correlated members mounted onone base for convenient use, handling, and storage. One of these members is the rotary chuck with, its operating mechanism and the shoecarry ing and operating members. This operative group is mounted at the righthand side of the main base I. The. second member is the storage member consisting of. the perforated storage board elevated and having the round openings for the molds and the slots for the shoes. The member (involving beside the perforated board, also the side strips upon which the board is supported), is arranged on the main base at the lefthand side thereof. ment each other in the carrying out of the clay modeling in conveniently furnishing the operating mechanism and a varied supply of means coordinated with the operating mechanism to get variety and thereby hold the interest of the child in teaching manual operations and thev choice of implements, their assembly or substi tution, and their operation.

These members supple-' It will be noted that the cup or chuck is held simply by gravity in its proper position to engage its bevel pinion with the bevel gear wheel, the weight of said chuck, etc., being sufficient to maintain these geared members in mesh.

The arm carrying the shoe is stopped in its lowermost position by its lower edge coming against the lower wall of the slot in the standard 3, in which said arm is pivoted.

The various devices all being mounted on the same base, make up a unit which is self-contained and portable.

It is self-contained because all the parts, whether for operating the molds and shoes relative to each other, or for storing said molds and shoes in a certain manner, are mounted on or carried by the same base member, and the apparatus is portable in the sense that it is of a size to be moved as a unit from place to place by the child.

Use of the device will not only teach the child coordination in the handling and operation of elements of a mechanical combination, and the method of attaining different molding effects from plastic material, but will also develop a sense of order in the handling or assembly of coordinated elements and in the proper storage of said elements when not in use, and for ready access when subsequent operations are to be carried out. Therefore the composite toy unit is not only entertaining, but is instructive, habit forming in respect to putting things away according to a prescribed plan, or in an orderly manner, for future use.

The apparatus has educational value in its general use by the child.

Also by the numbering of the molds, the forming tools, and the pockets, or openings, in the holder for these parts, the small child will receive educational benefit by the comparison and matching of the numbered parts.

Owing to the numbering of the molds, the article from each mold will be impressed with a number corresponding to that of the mold which is used to produce it.

I claim:

1. A portable toy modeling apparatus comprising a base, a post mounted on the base and having a vertically extending socket, the opening of which faces upwardly, a rotatable chuck for receiving removably the molds for holding the clay to be modeled, said chuck having a depending shaft removably seated in said socket, a bevelled pinion on said shaft, a journal extending horizontally from the post at a level below that of the pinion, a bevel gear on said journal meshing at its upper portion with the pinion and a handle on said gear wheel for rotating the same, said chuck with its shaft and pinion being maintained in the socket and with the pinion in mesh With said gear Wheel by the Weight of the chuck and of the parts in fixed connection with said chuck, substantially as described.

2. A portable toy clay modeler comprising a base, a rotary chuck for receiving any one of a plurality of molds in which the clay is to be modeled, a vertical shaft carrying said chuck, a pinion on the shaft, a support for said shaft, a gear meshing with the pinion, a horizontal journal extending from said support on which said gear is mounted, an arm pivotally mounted above the base and swingable to and from the rotary chuck, means carried by the arm for removably receiving any one of a plurality of forming tools, means for storage of the molds and forming tools at the left hand side of the base, said chuck with its driving means and the swingable arm being located at the right hand side of the base, the

' tool carrying arm being located and swingable in a vertical plane passing through the vertical axis of the chuck and at an inclination to the front edge of the base, the said gear wheel operating in a vertical plane substantially parallel with the vertical plane first mentioned and hence at an inclination to the front edge of the base, substantially as described.

3. A portable toy clay modeler comprising a rotatable chuck for holding the molds for the clay to be modeled, means for rotating the chuck, an arm for carrying forming tools which shape the clay in the molds, said arm being pivotally mounted, operable by hand to a position adjacent the rotary chuck and having a recess in its surface with a screw stud in said recess, forming tools having shanks to lit the recess and to be held against turning by the walls thereof, said shanks having openings to receive said screw stud and a nut to fit said screw stud for holding the forming tool to the arm, substantially as described.

MYER S. LANDOW. 

